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[Audio clip of pain]
Physicians gauging pain have little to go on besides a patient’s self-report. And some sufferers simply can’t communicate how they’re feeling.
So scientists have searched for a reliable way to measure pain physiologically. And they may finally have one.
Researchers performed functional MRI scans on the brains of 24 subjects who were having an arm heated to the point of moderate pain. The subjects’ brain patterns were recorded both as they experienced pain and zero pain. The researchers then used an algorithm to develop a pain model, based on the patterns. The work was published in the journal PLoS One.
The researchers then analyzed the brain scan patterns of 16 new subjects, some experiencing pain, some not. They found that their model accurately predicted pain levels 81 percent of the time.
Most studies of physiology-based measurements of pain have focused on heart rate, skin conductance and EEG. These measures correlate with pain, but nothing has been accurate enough to substitute for self-reports.
The authors note we can’t depend solely on a study done with heat-based pain—but the method shows hope for new ways to accurately measure pain.
—Christie Nicholson
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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5 Comments
Add CommentFrom PloS:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"The whole-brain SVM was 81% accurate at distinguishing painful from non-painful stimuli (p<0.0000001)"
"the participant provided a self-report of pain on a 0–10 numerical rating scale with the following anchors: 0 (no pain), 3 (minor pain), 5 (moderate pain), 7 (intense pain that you can bear without moving), and 10 (unbearable pain)"
So what I understand is that the model can see whether a subject is not feeling heat pain or is feeling some level of heat pain, and, the model cannot distinguish between the different levels of pain a subject may be experiencing.
Q83256
How about focussing on treating pain adequately? The medical profession is shameful in this regard, and this test won't help.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPain should be measured by the pain receptors at the top of the spinal cord or in whatever region of the brain pain is percieved. we can measure voltages in nerves and muscles and even in the brain so y not be able to detect what ever dictates pain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this(just a thought, thats all)
Pain MUST be measured using a set of clinically-relevant descriptors because numeric 1-10 questions assume additivity, linearity, and constant relationship among the factors. Here is my suggestion for a descriptor-based system, for your consideration:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this2 = Pain barely felt
3 = Clearly felt, can stand it but will interfere with sleep
4 = Can stand it for a limited amount of time
5 = Need immediate relief, thoughts of pain dominate
6 = Can no longer maintain thinking about anything but pain
7 = Moaning, uncontrolled body motions, rapid fatigue, still able to converse
8 = Same as 7, but no longer able to converse
9 = Uncontrolled shaking and crying
10 = Intermittent loss of consciousness
I have used the McGill pain Questionairre clinically for the last 30 years to measure chronic pain and had to modify it to address our treatment effectiveness. We use it, basically, in a three stage questionairre format to measure the other pains that may present after the predominant pain subsides after treatment. While this new analysis method may address total pain awareness by the brain, which by the way will help to prove a lot of disputed therapies, what we have observed should be taken into account when measuring chronic pain in the real world.
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